Hello Fintech Friends,

Welcome to the 2,201 new readers who’ve joined us since last week. You’re joining 187,000+ other subscribers enjoying stablecoin summer.

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Pivoting to fintech news... there are no weeks off around here!

• The latest Revolut data show that the neobank is opening 20% of all new bank accounts in Spain.
• Payments giant Stripe made its second digital currency acquisition, for stablecoin wallet provider Privy (for a high rumored purchase price...)
• American neobank Chime, with 8 million+ users, went public on the Nasdaq, seeing its valuation soar 60% to over $18 billion.
• Shopify is working with Coinbase and Stripe to enable USDC payment; Coinbase is launching a card with AmEx.
• The GENIUS Stablecoin Bill passed a key vote in Congress and will advance in the US Senate.

How stablecoins are entering the financial mainstream

Usage of the digital assets is growing rapidly, but concerns remain about supervision and their impact on other parts of the financial system

Financial Times

Kick off your summer plans with discounted tickets for Stablecon 2026 – on sale for $1,295 until June 30th.

Please enjoy another week of fintech and banking news below.

(Have feedback for us? Let us know. Find me at @nikmilanovic, @twifintech, and @ndm)

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Financial Services & Banking

Product Launches

Cross River Bank launched Request for Payment functionality to enable inbound money movement and enhance funding agility across the US' Real-Time Payments network. Plaid will be the first to implement the feature.

Other News

JPMorgan announced plans to offer financing to clients using crypto ETFs as collateral, marking a significant step into digital asset-backed lending.

Societe Generale's crypto unit launched a US dollar-backed stablecoin on Ethereum and Solana, becoming one of the first major banks to issue such an asset on public blockchains. Not to be left out, Deutsche Bank revealed it considered launching its own stablecoin or joining an industry-led initiative, signaling a deeper move into blockchain infrastructure. The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation—a central clearinghouse owned by major banks, brokers, and fund managers—is evaluating the development of its own stablecoin to streamline post-trade settlements.

The US Senate voted to advance the GENIUS Act, accelerating the pace of federal stablecoin legislation. The primary objectives of the legislation are to establish a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins, especially those used for payments, set clear guidelines for issuance, reserves, and redemption, and clarify the roles of federal and state regulators.

The New York State Legislature passed a law requiring businesses statewide to accept cash, countering growing concerns about cashless discrimination.

HSBC’s failed fintech venture Zing reportedly lost £87 million before the bank shut it down, following ongoing struggles to gain traction in the market.

UK bank NatWest announced plans to close more bank branches, citing changing customer behavior and a shift toward digital banking.

Quotes of the Week

Fintech

Product Launches

Coinbase announced that it will launch its first credit card, the Coinbase One Card, on the American Express network. The card will offer up to 4% Bitcoin back on every purchase.

Plaid introduced Plaid Protect, a new anti-fraud engine that proactively identifies suspicious activity using machine learning, helping financial institutions mitigate risk and reduce fraud losses.

Liberis developed an AI underwriting agent designed to enhance embedded finance credit decisioning for small business funding.

OnePay partnered with Synchrony to introduce a co-branded credit card program, offering customers enhanced purchasing power and financing options directly through the OnePay app.

Starling Bank launched an AI-driven "Spending Insights" tool that analyzes customer transactions to deliver personalized financial advice and improve budgeting behavior.

Upcoming Events

London Fintech Breakfast · Luma

Join This Week in Fintech as we invite some of the world’s top founders, operators and investors to a very unique networking event. Alongside incredible…

This Week in Fintech

Job of the Week

Zelody hiring Technical Lead in Portland, Oregon Metropolitan Area | LinkedIn

Posted 7:27:54 PM. Zelody is building a data orchestration agent for financial services, specifically banking…See this and similar jobs on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn

Other News

Shopify – in partnership with Coinbase and Stripe – will soon allow a select group of merchants to automatically accept payments in USDC (Circle’s USD-backed stablecoin); merchants must opt out if they do not wish to accept it. Merchants accepting USDC will receive up to 0.5% cash back in the US and other countries.

OnePay, Walmart’s financial services arm, added credit cards to its offering to expand customer access to credit and support broader financial inclusion initiatives.

Navro* secured its first US money transmission license in Delaware, enabling the launch of its payment curation platform for American businesses.

Partnership Corner

Meta partnered with Klarna to offer a “play now, pay later” installment plan for its Meta Quest headsets, aiming to boost adoption of its VR devices.

Verizon and Trustly launched a “pay by bank” feature at retail, enabling direct-from-account payments for Verizon customers and expanding real-time payment options.

Keeta partnered with Solo to create a blockchain-native credit bureau, designed to provide more accurate and accessible credit scoring for underserved borrowers.

Experian teamed up with Plaid to improve credit decisioning by leveraging open banking data and delivering more inclusive and accurate credit insights.

Mastercard partnered with PayPal to give consumers greater flexibility and more choices at checkout, integrating Mastercard’s payment rails with PayPal’s digital wallet features.

The Bad News

The US Department of Justice charged a crypto founder with evading US sanctions and laundering over $500 million through a mixing service.

Klarna was reported to Norway’s Consumer Authority for allegedly violating consumer protection rules.